Wringer and the like



March 23, 1943. w. L. KAUFFMAN, 2D 2,314,709

WRINGER AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 5, 1939 a Amfmg BY WA? A TTORNEYS.

Patented Mar. 23, 1943 UNITED STATES WRINGER AND THE LIKE Walter L. Kauffman, II, Erie, Pa., assignor to Lovell Manufacturing Company, Erie, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 5, 1939, Serial No. 298,102

4Claims.

Wringers and the like employing squeezing rolls present an element of danger to the operator because of the possibility of clothing or parts of the body of the operator being caught in the rolls and carried in.

In order to minimize any injuries in this respect, safety devices have been devised for changing the condition of the wringer to avoid a continual drawing in and injury. Some of such devices have the rolls so mounted that in case of an instinctive pull by the operator to prevent a feeding in action of the member caught, a movement of the frame will effect action of the safety device. The present invention involves this type of device.

Where a movement of the roll frame is used for actuating the safety device, it must be held sutliciently to permit of the normal operation of the wringer without effecting an action of the safety device. At the same time the pull must be made as sensitive as possible so that there may be a ready response to the action of the operator under panic conditions.

Where the rolls are driven through a gearing mechanism, the torque thrust of the gears themselves, as usually applied, resists the free movement of the wringer and consequently reduces its sensitivity.

The present invention is designed to provide a reversing gearing for the rolls which with either direction will provide a torque thrust opposite the direction of feeding clothes to the rolls so that at all times the torque thrust will be in the direction of the release pull of the operator. Features and details of the invention will appear from the specification and claims.

Preferred exemplifications of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing as follows:

Fig. 1 shows a wringer with the driving mechanism partly in section to better show construction.

Fig. 2 an end view of a wringer.

Fig. 3 a section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 in Fig. 1.

Figs. 5 and 6 show alternative details for latching the gears in set position.

Fig. 7 a section on the line 1-4 in Fig. 6.

1 marks a base of a wringer frame; 2 and 2a stiles on the frame; 3 a top bar. wringer rolls 4 and 5 are mounted in the frame. Shafts 6 and I are provided for the bottom and top rolls respectively. Bearings 8 are provided for the lower shaft 6. These are arranged in the side stiles. Bearings 3 are slidingly mounted in the side stiles and receive the upper shaft 1. A spring l rests on the upper bearings and an adjusting screw H in the center of the top bar afiords adjustment.

The top bar is locked with the stile 2 by interlocking shoulders l2 at one end and is provided with a resetting lever l3 at the opposite end.

The lever I3 is hinged to the top bar at l4 and is connected with the stile through a toggle link IS. The lever l3 has an offset arm it which is engaged by a trip arm II. The arm [1 extends from a trip bar 18 which is pivotally connected with the top bar 3 so that when the trip bar It is depressed, the toggle lever is swung outwardly sufliciently to put the hinge l4 and the pivots on the link l5 past center so that the resetting mechanism is released and the top bar is released, releasing the pressure on the rolls.

An attaching plate I3 is secured to the stile 2 and a gear head 20 is secured to this plate. The gear head has a downwardly extending swivel extension 2l that is swiveled in a tube 22. The tube 22 extends downwardly and is journaled on a boss 23 extending from a gear case 24 arranged 20. on a frame of a washing machine 25.

A bracket 26 extends from the upper end of the washing machine and has an opening receiving the upper end of the tube 22, permitting the.

tube to swing in the opening. The upper end of the tube 22 has a flange 21 which is provided with detents 28. A latch 29 operates in these detents. The latch is pivoted to the gear head 20 at 30 and has a handle 3| by which it may be withdrawn from engagement with the de- 30 tents. This forms an indexing device by which the wringer as a whole may be swung to diflerent positions of use.

The wringer is held yieldingly in operative position. This is accomplished by the mechanism particularly shown in Fig. 4. A ball 32 is carried in an opening 33 in the bracket 26. A spring 34 urges the ball outwardly into a socket 35 arranged in the wall of the tube 22. The walls of the socket have cammed surfaces 36 so that with pressure on the wringer, the ball is forced backwardly into the opening 33 against the pressure of the spring, permitting the wringer to be moved relatively to the bracket so as to permit the wringer to be moved through the turning of the tube 22 in the bracket 26.

A drive shaft 31 extends to a motor, not shown. This drive shaft has an extension which is mounted in a bearing 39 in the case 24. A bevel gear 40 is fixed on the extension. Reversing gears 4| are mounted on a vertical shaft 42, the shaft carrying the gears 4| into and out of mesh with the gear 40 to reverse the drive. The lower end of the shaft is carried in a bearing 43 in the case 24, and an upper bearing 44 is arranged in the boss 23. The shaft 42 extends into a sleeve 45 and is secured therein by a pin 46.

A shaft 41 is locked with the sleeve 45 by means of a pin 48 extending through the sleeve and a slot 49 in the shaft A spring 50 between the boss 23 and the lower end of the sleeve 45 tends to lift the shaft 42 and consequently the reversing gears. A spring operating against the upper end of the sleeve 45 tends to depress the sleeve and consequently depress the shaft 42. These springs are neutral with the gears in neutral, and yieldingly permit either gear to be moved into mesh.

The shaft 41 is carried in bearings 52 in the gear head. A bevel gear 53 is fixed on the shaft and meshes with a bevel gear 54 on a shaft 55, this shaft being an extension of the roll shaft 8.

A slot 55 extends through the tube 22. This slot has right and left offsets 51 and 58. A slot 59 extends through a tubular projection 50 on the bracket 26. The slot 59 is wider than the slot 56 and registers with the outer ends of the offset slots 51 and 58. A screw Bl extends through the slots 59 and 58 into a ring segment 52. With this construction, when the gears are in neutral, the screw is held midway between the ends of the slot 55.

When it is desired to drive the wringer in one direction or the other, the screw is lifted or depressed and placed in either the cross slot 58 or 51, thus bringing one or the other of the reversing gears 4| into mesh, and the driving of the wringer in the desired direction.

The offsets are placed in a direction with relation to the direction of the drive gears to make the torque thrust of the gear 53 in the direction opposite the direction of feeding clothes to the bite of the rolls and in the direction toward the operator so that the torque thrust tends to move the screw 5| out of the offset and therefore assist the operator in a pulling movement toward the operator in effecting a release. The retention of the wringer in operating position, therefore, under these circumstances, is accomplished by the ball 32 which may be adjusted to retain the wringer normally in operative position, notwithstanding the thrust of the gears. With this arrangement of offsets, when the wringer is pulled toward the operator, the screw Si is moved by the wall of the slot 59 into register with the slot 56 so that one or the other of the springs 50 or 5|, as the case may be, moves the reversing gear, then in mesh, out of mesh.

Where the feeding is intended to be from one side only, the wringer may be arranged for operation only at one side, and it may be desirable to reverse the wringer without reversing the side of the wringer from which the feeding is accomplished, as, for instance, where the clothes may have become wound around the roll and it is desired to reverse the wringer to release the clothes. In this case, the slot 54 may have offsets 55 both on one side, as indicated in Fig. 5. The pin 51 is mounted similarly to the screw SI and is adapted to enter the slots 64 and 55 for locking the reversing gear in driving position.

A similar construction may be used that will release with either movement of the wringer. Such a construction is shown in Fig. 6. Here the slot mechanism 64 has the offsets 55. A plate 55 is pivoted on the pin 51. The plate 65 also has a pin 68 at one end extending inwardly and adapted to be swung into the offset slots 55. As shown in Fig. 6, when the pin 58 is in one of the offset slots, the opposite end of the plate 55 is in engagement with the opposite wall of the slot 59 so that a movement of the wringer in either direction for rocking the plate 55 to move the pin 68 out of the oflset with which it may be in engagement and thus will release the drivin connection through the reversing gears.

What I claim as new is:

1. In a wringer or the like. having a frame;

squeeze rolls mounted in the frame; a gear head on which the frame is movably mounted; and driving means for the rolls comprising reversing gears exerting torque thrust on the frame, the thrust being reversed with a reversal of the means; the combination with theframe, gear head and driving means of means releasing the driving means actuated by a movement of the frame in a direction of the torque thrust, said releasing means comprising a vertical slot having offsets; a reverse gear setting device having a projection extending through the slot; abutments moving with the frame at each side of and parallel with the slot, and a swinging plate on the projection, said plate having a pin slidingly mounted in the vertical slot and adapted to engage by the swinging of the plate the oil'sets in the vertical slot, said swinging plate engaging the abutments at each side of the vertical slot providing for release with a movement of the wringer in either direction.

2. In a wringer or the like having a frame, squeeze rolls mounted in the frame, and a movable mounting for the frame permitting the movement of the frame moving both rolls in the same direction; the combination with the frame and mounting of means for driving the rolls comprising reversing gears, said driving means exerting torque thrust on the frame, the torque thrust being in a direction reverse to that of the feeding direction to the rolls irrespective of the direction of feed, and means releasing the driving means responsive to a movement of the frame in the direction of the torque thrust.

3. In a wringer or the like having a frame, squeeze rolls mounted in the frame, a movable mounting for the frame permitting movement of the frame moving both rolls in the same direction, bevel gears in the mounting, one gear driving one of the rolls, and a vertical shaft driving the other of said bevel gears; the combination with the frame, mounting, bevel gears and vertical shaft of reversing gears on the vertical shaft rotatively locked with the vertical shaft, a driving means, and devices connecting the reversing gears with the driving means, said bevel gears and reversing gears maintaining the torque thrust on the frame in a direction opposite the feeding direction of the wringer, and means releasing the driving means responsive to a movement of the frame in the direction of the torque thrust.

4. In a wringer or the like having a frame, squeeze rolls mounted in the frame, and a movable mounting for the frame permitting the movement of the frame moving both rolls in the same direction; the combination with the frame and mounting of means for driving the rolls comprising reversing gears, said driving means exerting torque thrust on the frame, the torque thrust being in a direction reverse to that of the feeding direction to the rolls irrespective of the direction of feed, and means releasing the driving means responsive to a movement of the frame in the direction of the torque thrust or in an opposite direction.

WALTER L. KAUF'FMAN, II. 

